KEVIN KEEGAN made a sensational return to Tyneside last night – and admitted his love affair with the Toon Army was still alive and kicking.

KEVIN KEEGAN made a sensational return to Tyneside last night – and admitted his love affair with the Toon Army was still alive and kicking.

Special K sent 850 lucky and privileged fans into a frenzy at the Federation Brewery’s Lancastrian Suite in Dunston, with Geordie fans turning back the clock with chants of “Keegan” and “Walking in a Keegan Wonderland”.

With the packed audience hanging on every word from the Messiah, Keegan spoke of both good times and bad in reference to a five-year period in which he not only transformed Newcastle United but almost changed the face of football with an exciting brand of attacking soccer.

Keegan – who now runs his own successful Soccer Circus theme park in Glasgow – and fellow United legend Peter Beardsley were in Toon for a talk-in organised by Graeme Forster’s www.grass.uk.com which supports local grassroots sports.

KK talked about a wide range of subjects, including:

:: the day he pleaded with fans for patience on the steps at St James’s Park following the sale of Andy Cole;

:: how he once lambasted and subbed Steve Watson at half-time for a poor performance before recalling him from the showers 10 minutes later to tell him he was back on following another injury;

:: how Eric Cantona showed the humility to shake Keegan’s hand after Man United were thrashed 5-0, and admit United were a great team;

:: looking back on the 1995/96 season, when Newcastle came within a whisker of being crowned Premier League champions.

But addressing the crowd – which included ex-players Kevin Carr, Rob Lee, John Beresford and Paul Bracewell – at a sell-out dinner, Keegan said: “It’s always great to come back for me and not just to see Pedro – I have a lot of friends here.

“I played for the club and I managed the club. It was my dad’s favourite club too, he was from Hetton.

“My grandfather was in the Stanley pit disaster and was one of the few who got out alive. So my roots are here.

“I’ll always love Newcastle United and, more importantly, the fans.”

Keegan’s era resulted in the former Toon boss guiding United from the brink of relegation to Division Three and possible extinction to within touching distance of the Premier League trophy after building up a 12-point lead, only to be pipped by Manchester United.

But he insisted: “I wouldn’t have changed a lot. You get advice from people when it’s no good, like we should have been more defensive, but we only had one defender in the whole squad in poor old Darren Peacock!

“If we had changed maybe we would have crawled home, but we got there by playing that way and had we then changed the way we played and not got there that would have been wrong.

“We certainly almost changed the way football was thought about because people didn’t think you could do that.

“We challenged everyone to play football and it didn’t matter who they were.

“You can’t change things back but it was great football.”

Speaking on Cole – one of his most successful signings – Keegan explained how a madcap idea turned into one of his best signings.

He added: “I saw Andy Cole do one thing against us when we played Bristol City and thought ‘wow!’

“One day I was sat with Terry Mac at 4.45pm on a Wednesday night and we were looking at the fixtures and seeing where we could go for players.

“We looked at Hartlepool and Darlington and we couldn’t even get to Sheffield.

“I thought if there was one game we could see it would have been Bristol City v West Ham.

“Douglas Hall was on his way home and he asked if there was anything we needed. I joked to him that we’d like to borrow his plane at Teesside Airport and said we wanted to go to Bristol.

“Douglas got on his phone and told us to be there in 45 minutes. We got in the plane and were in the directors’ box at Ashton Gate just as the players were coming up.

“Bristol got beaten 5-0 and an injured Cole couldn’t run, but I saw a guy who wanted to play and could have said he wasn’t fit so I basically signed him on that.”

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Top display despite defeat

KEVIN KEEGAN feels Newcastle United could not have played any better in the 1-0 defeat against Manchester United in 1996 which ultimately proved the turning point of that season’s title race.

United were all over their opponents in the first half as the Old Trafford club tried to close down Newcastle’s mammoth lead at the top.

That night Peter Schmeichel was in inspired form to deny Les Ferdinand, but a mis-hit volley at Gallowgate won it for the Red Devils.

Keegan said: “The year we lost the title we played fantastically well against Manchester United.

“Schmeichel made some great saves, Cantona scored and we lost 1-0.

“The next year we probably did not play any better and beat them 5-0.

“I walked up the stairs and I was standing there and heads were down.

“The last person up was Cantona and he shook my hand and said: “You have a very good team.”

Meanwhile, former Toon stars Rob Lee, John Beresford, Kevin Carr and Paul Bracewell were all in the audience and admitted they had been blown away by the reception enjoyed by KK.

Event organiser Graeme Forster said: “It was an amazing night and one which will live in people’s memories forever.